Alerts

2011

New York, February
16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the continued
assaults on journalists covering anti-government demonstrations in the Middle
East. In recent days, journalists have been obstructed, assaulted, or detained in
Libya, Bahrain, Iran, and Yemen. Authorities have also slowed down Internet
connection and blocked websites, according to local journalists.

New York, February
15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by news
that CBS correspondent and CPJ board member Lara Logan was sexually assaulted
and beaten in Cairo on Friday while covering rallies marking the resignation of
Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. "We have seen Lara's compassion at work while helping
journalists who have faced brutal aggression while doing their jobs," CPJ
Chairman Paul Steiger said. "She is a brilliant, courageous, and committed
reporter. Our thoughts are with Lara as she recovers."

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New York, February
15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing of
blogger Tal al-Mallohi on Monday to five years in prison on state security
charges and calls on Syrian authorities to release her immediately. Al-Mallohi, 20, was detained in 2009 and held in extrajudicial detention for close to a
year, according to news reports and local press freedom groups.

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New York, February
14, 2011--As protests spread
from Tunisia and Egypt to other countries in the region, journalists have been
targeted by security forces, in Yemen, Iran, and Algeria, the Committee to
Protect Journalists said today.

New
York, February 14, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Cuban
authorities today to place no conditions on the release of journalist Héctor
Maseda Gutiérrez, who was freed on parole Saturday. Maseda Gutiérrez is a founding member of the independent
news agency Grupo de Trabajo Decoro and a winner of CPJ's International Press
Freedom Award in 2008.

Bangkok, February 14, 2011--The
Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that authorities have detained Ross
Dunkley, editor-in-chief and chief executive officer of the Myanmar Times newspaper, on
immigration-related charges in Burma.

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New York, February 11, 2011--The Catholic Church in Havana announced today that jailed Cuban journalist Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, a CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee, at left, would be released after nearly eight years behind bars. But news reports, including one citing the journalist's wife, said Maseda Gutiérrez has balked at conditions placed on his release and at the continued detention of other political dissidents.

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New York, February
11, 2011--Burma's new government under Prime Minister Thein Sein must put an
end to the former military junta's despicable policy of imprisoning independent
journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The most recent
case to come to light is the 13-year sentencing of Maung Maung Zeya in a trial
held within Insein Prison on February 4. Staff at the Oslo-based Democratic
Voice of Burma (DVB), for which the journalist worked, confirmed the decision
to CPJ. Maung Maung Zeya was convicted for contacting Burmese exiled media and violating
the Electronics Act. The court's sentence came on the same day Thein Sein was
sworn into office.

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New York, February 11, 2011--The Committee to Protect
Journalists condemns today's imprisonment in Minsk of Andrzej
Poczobut, a Grodno correspondent for the largest Polish daily,
Gazeta Wyborcza, and calls on
Belarusian authorities to release him immediately.

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New York, February 11,
2011--The Committee to Protect Journalistscondemns Wednesday's violent attack against two media companies in
the Mexican city of Torreón, Coahuila state, during which a TV engineer was
shot to death and equipment was destroyed and stolen.